There are many examples where articles of clothing and other fabric or otherwise “soft” goods become soiled to the extent that often they are thrown away or used in a soiled condition because the goods cannot conventionally be returned to a clean state. To give one example: firefighters use outer wear which is of a fire-retardant fabric, better described below, which loses some of fire retardant properties as the fabric becomes soiled, notably with organics, smoke, soot, ash, mud, etc. Washing firefighting clothing must be done carefully so as to not disrupt the integrity of seams etc., and to a repeatable standard of cleanliness so that degradation of fire retardant capability is minimized and the fabric's fire retardancy restored to a predetermined and verifiably acceptable and safe level.
Washing such clothing has been accomplished using specialized large-object washing machines such as those provided commercially by Esporta Wash Systems Inc., the applicant herein. Descriptions of such machines are found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,374,644 and 6,732,553, which issued on Apr. 23, 2002, and May 11, 2004, respectively, for an Equipment Washer, and which are incorporated by reference herein. Such machines are also described in United States published patent applications 2004/0089030 A1, 2004/0231063 A1, and 2005/0193500 A1 published in May 13, 2004, Nov. 25, 2004 and Sep. 8, 2005, respectively, for an Equipment Washer, and which are incorporated by reference herein. In such machines the objects to be washed may be secured in bins or other means for immobilizing the object in a porous cage. An array of such cages may be formed around the perimeter of a porous rotary drum. The drum is mounted in a water-tight wash housing. Wash fluid; typically a combination of water, detergent, and other ingredients according to present formulas determined in accordance with the objects being washed, is introduced into the wash housing and the drum circulated through the wash fluid whereby hydraulic wash fluid pressure provides the cleaning medium as it is forced through and around the items being cleaned. Pre-set washing, rinsing, spinning, and extraction cycles are employed to remove the soilant from the objects, to then remove the detergents, etc. from the objects, and then to remove the moisture from the objects.
To give another example, restoration of objects salvaged from a fire, such as a residential home fire, or restoration of objects salvaged from flooding of a residence has been limited to date, hampered by lack of a trustworthy standard of cleanliness and a means to accomplish this within a verifiable monitoring system, so that presently often the objects are merely discarded and, to the extent possible, replaced with the proceeds of insurance coverage. Insurance companies thus are motivated to see such replacement more limited than is presently the case, so as to reduce the cost of insurance payouts, and the insured home-owners are motivated to see restoration in cases where replacement of soiled objects cannot be accomplished, for example, in the cases of irreplaceable clothing, or a child's loved stuffed animal toys, or heirlooms—the list goes on, as better described below.
In applicant's view it is preferable for the restoration industry, and in some instances, such as in the firefighting example, also a safety concern, to attempt to standardize standards of cleanliness which can be repeated and, importantly, verified including verified remotely, so as to allow the proliferation of restoration facilities employing the standards.
For items such as protective clothing worn by first responders such as firemen, the level of cleanliness and the manner of washing will affect the safety of first responder. For example, fire retardant clothing provides fire protection to specification when clean, for example when new, but with degraded fire retardancy when soiled. Further, if not washed in a specialized washing machine such the applicant's washing machine mentioned above or for example such as the washing machine described below, then there is a risk of damage to seams and fabric that may degrade the safety of the clothing. It is thus in these cases a matter of safety for the first responder that the operator of the washing machine not cut corners by for example using different wash fluid consumables such as different detergent than those recommended and supplied by the applicant for its washing machines.
In the case of a remotely operated washing facility, it is very difficult to monitor washing operation or to monitor an otherwise remotely located washing machine operator so as to detect when the pre-set and certified washing protocols are not being followed. Again, if the protocols are not followed, then the cleanliness standard may not be met, and thus the insurance company customers and the restoration company customers may be dissatisfied with goods which have been returned to them which have allegedly been cleaned and restored to the desired standard.